I was reading breakpoint the other day and Chuck Colson was talking about the ID defeat in Pennsylvania this week. Judge John E. Jones ruled that “it is unconstituional to teach intentional design as an alternative to evolution in a public school classroom.” One of the reasons he gave is that “intelligent design is not science because its ideas can’t be either verified or falsified through normal scientific methods.” My thought was this: If that is the standard for whether or not ID can be taught in the public school, why is it not the standard for whether or not evolution can be taught in the public school. I would like for science to show me a single case in which macro evolution has been verified or falsified via scientific methods. There isn’t one. Science has many theories concerning evolution and they have scientific verification for pieces of the theory, such as micro evolution. However evolution remains nothing but a theory because it cannot be verified.

This becomes especially clear if you rewind evolutionist theory to its supposed beginning. The big bang. ID attempts to describe how everything got started. They claim that some inteligent force designed everything and got the ball rolling in the first place. Judge Jones objects to this because he claims there is no way to verify that it actually took place. Well I would like for him to show me the verification for there being a big bang. I would like for him to show me the verification that life can naturally begin from nothing. Using Judge Jones reasoning it makes sense that ID would not be allowed to be taught. What doesn’t make sense is that evolution is allowed to be taught.

Another couple thoughts on the matter. First of all, ID proponents are pushing for ID to be a required teaching in public schools. This seems to me to be asking a little much right off. I would think that a better tactic would be to seek rulings allowing the teaching of ID at all. Once this is accomplished then the legal precident of teaching ID will be established and the debate over whether or not it should be a required teaching can occur later.

Secondly, what evolutionists are most afraid of is that there be nothing but ID taught in the classrooms. From everything I have read this is not the intention of ID proponents at all. All that has been proposed is that both sides of the origin issue be presented. The only justification for evolutionists belief that ID will become the sole theory taught in public schools is if they have no confidence in evolutions ability to stand in a debate with any other theory. All that ID proponents want to see is both sides of the issue taught. I think its important that ID proponents do not over reach in this. It is wrong for the public schools to be only teaching one half of the debate so that evolution is portrayed as being more then a theory. It would be just as wrong if only intentional design was taught. It should be our desire that both sides of the debate be taught, not that ID would become the public school’s new evolution.

For what he did on the field and in the classroom, here is a shoutout to Andre Brown. As a freshman he lead the team in rushing and made the dean’s list at NC State. Keep it up man!

From Rob Neyer on ESPN:

In Damon’s four years with the Red Sox, he batted .295/.362/.441 (that’s batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage) and played excellent defense in center field. That’s almost the very definition of great value.

But Damon, like virtually every other Red Sox hitter since the 1930s, has benefited from his home ballpark. In Damon’s four seasons at Fenway Park, he’s batted .310/.383/.442. Away from Fenway, he’s batted .281/.342/.440.

Does that mean Damon is fundamentally a .281 (etc.) hitter? Not necessarily. Players typically enjoy a home edge, regardless of their home ballpark. But it’s not just the natural home edge that’s caused Damon to hit for a higher batting average and draw more walks in his home games; generally speaking, everybody hits for a higher average and draws more walks at Fenway than elsewhere. The reason for this isn’t a secret: In addition to the cozy dimensions in the direction of Lansdowne, Fenway also features a wonderful hitter’s background (which is probably why left-handed hitters, even those who didn’t routinely take advantage of The Wall, have enjoyed Fenway just as much as righties).

And of course, Fenway Park is just one half of the equation. Over the last three seasons, Yankee Stadium has apparently been neutral (roughly speaking) in terms of batting average, but it has knocked down the walks more than any other park in the American League (and perhaps more than any in the major leagues).

What does this mean for Damon? He’s not going to bat .300 in 2006. He’s going to bat in the .270 to .290 range, with an on-base percentage between .320 and .340 … hardly the numbers the Yankees and their fans are expecting from a $13 million leadoff man. (In fact, the Yankees might be well-served by leaving Derek Jeter at the top of the order; reader Kashif Anwar points out that Jeter’s numbers as a leadoff man are better than his numbers while batting in other slots in the batting order.)

I am, of course, postulating a fairly pessimistic outcome. Damon could, for various reasons, play better in 2006 than he did in 2005. He could hit .337 and win the batting title. But the numbers above weren’t just conjured from thin air, and they are going to show up on the field eventually. Maybe it won’t happen next season. But Damon is 32. He’s not going to get better. He’s going to get worse.

Here was the story on Fox News’ bottom-of-the-screen crawl this morning:

BRONX BOMBSHELL … NY YANKEES STEAL LEADOFF HITTER AND 2004 WORLD SERIES HERO JOHNNY DAMON FROM THE BOSTON RED SOX.

Well, that’s one fairly balanced way of looking at it. Here’s another way:

The Red Sox are going to miss Johnny Damon in 2006, just as they missed Pedro Martinez in 2005. But they lost Martinez because they believed — correctly, in my view — that as great as he was, he wouldn’t be worth $53 million over the course of four seasons. Similarly, they lost Damon because they believed — correctly, in my view — that as good as he is, he won’t be worth $52 million over the next four seasons. If the Red Sox behave as they generally have over the last three years, they’ll take the $52 million they could have spent on Johnny Damon and spend it elsewhere, more wisely.

Well the Yankees payed way too much for Johnny Damon. I am glad that the red sox refused to overpay. Plus he will have to cut his hair, so that is his punishment for signing with the evil empire. If you look at his numbers last year, he had only 10 HRs. Since he is a lead off guy he is supposed to have lots of stolen bases, and he hasn’t had that many the last few years. That means he is getting old. Also he had a good average last year but the years before that he was kinda weak. By the time his contract is up he will be 36 and as Bernie Williams proved that is pretty old for a center fielder.

The yankees have succumbed again. They couldn’t resist shelling out huge ammounts of money for someone whose best years are behind him. He will be the next Jason Giambi. The Yankees are already up to their necks in huge contracts with old guys. Now they are even deeper in the hole. My biggest fear was actually that the yankees would go with someone cheap and then they would have money to spend on pitching. Guess we don’t have to worry about that. Last year the yankees lost between 50 and 80 million dollars because their payroll is too high. The bigger their payroll, the more they have to shell out to the other teams for revenue sharing. This means the red sox will have at least 4 or 5 million dollars extra to sign a shortstop. Also did the yankees forget that Damon’s shoulder has been hurt? Wonder how that will hold up for the next 4 years.

Will I miss him? Yes. Will I cry about it? No. The red sox are getting younger and are maintaining a healthy payroll. The yankees are getting older and their payroll is inflating every year, giving them very little flexibility. Interestingly enough, the only team to win the world series with a payroll of more then $100 million in the past 5 years is the red sox. Every year the Yankees have been increasing their payroll and every year they are doing less and less well. 4 of the past 5 world series have been won by teams with payrolls less then $75 million. The lesson is you can’t buy a world series. Oh yeah and this means that the red sox won’t be trading Manny.

So how will the Red Sox overcome TEE this year? With pitching and defense. Currently for SP we have Schilling, Beckett, Wakefield, Clement, Wells, Arroyo, Papeldon, Lester, and Hanson. 4 of those guys can be traded for a CF and a SS. That still leaves us with great pitching. As far as defense, Loretta, Lowell, Cora, and Youk are all great defensively. Hopefully the sox will add a more powerful SS and maybe a new 1B, but even if they don’t, we have an infield that might not get tons of runs, but also won’t allow too many runs either. Remember how the Marlins and the Angels and the Diamondbacks won it. Not with power but with pitching and defense. There are still many pieces that need to fall into place for the sox, and there are question marks here and there. There is no question mark for the yankees though. They have not yet learned their lesson, and are still trying to buy a world series.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/20/EDG7RG9KBM1.DTL

From the end of chaptor five of J.I. Packer’s “Knowing God”:

The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christian spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor – spending, and being spent – to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, trouble care and concern, to do good to others – and not just their own friends – in whatever way there seems need.

There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things He will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. “For you know the grace of our Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9) “I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart “(Ps. 119:32).

I became burdened recently to be more giving of myself, and I became burdened that I need to be using what God has given me for good. Last night Jillian pointed me to the passage above and it spurred me on. There are lots of ways that we can give of ourselves in a Christlike manor. We can serve those who are needy, donate, encourage, etc. My particular conviction though is to be giving of myself as a friend, and to use the friendships that I have for more good.

Friendships are a wonderful thing. When you are with your friends you are secure, confident, apreciated, and you have influence. Christian friendships are one of God’s greatest gifts to us, but I think they can make us into the “Christian snobs” that Packer speaks of above. Since we are secure we are not so sensitive to the people around us. Confidence can lead to pride. The feeling of apreciation can lead us to believe that we can do no wrong, and can be used by us to justify wrong which we do. Finally with infuence comes the ability to hurt those around us.

Like in spider man, with great power comes great responsibility. It is not good enough for us to coast as friends. We should be always looking for ways that we can use our security, confidence, apreciation, and influence to build up those around us. Not only those in our circle of friends, but those who are in need of all the things friendship brings.

We were reminded yesterday that the Christian life is a race. If a runner gets to the end of a race and he feels great, then he has done something wrong. I pray that when my race is finished I will be completely spent for Christ. I pray that even if it means losing any popularity that I have that I will be willing to give that for Christ. I am on a mission to use my friendships for the good of those in need.

my personal take after seeing it on Wednesday night: What a great movie. True to the original. Filled with action and excitement, love and emotion, big spiders and scary zombies.

Ok first thing, this movie isn’t for little kids or the faint of heart. I think when people went to the movie they were expecting it to be ok for kids, so there ended up being like three crying kids when I watched and the boy sitting next to me decided he needed to sit on his dads lap for some parts. Oh my goodness, Liz would die.

Second thing, it is so great that Jackson stayed true to some of the movies great lines. “Don’t be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel.” and “Oh, no. It wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.” I got pretty excited over the chrome steel line because back in the day when James and Ian and I watched the original, we rewound and replayed that line half a dozen times because we thought it was funny.

Third, the action is something. You can definately see Peter Jackson’s background in horror movies. Some of the action is stomach turning, some is over the top, but it all works perfectly. A couple scenes you roll your eyes and some scenes the CG is weak, but these scenes make the movie just that much more true to the original. Everything combined the action is really great. There were more then a couple times when everyone in the theatre was clapping.

Finally, all the characters were perfectly cast and were very well developed. There was great chemistry and lines and altogether they fulfilled all expectations. Jillian enjoyed it and I would say its a great date movie. The love stories are a great ballance for the action. Something to look out for, that I read but didn’t catch the first time I watched it: Peter Jackson is one of the bi-plane gunners in the end of the movie. If you have seen the movie already you should check out this article for more on that and some other interesting trivia.

Grade: A

Here is a great link. Notice that it is from Aljazeera, the Iraqi online news. To me this is so exciting. The article is ok, but the thing that is the most exciting is all of the comments at the end of the article. Notice that all of the comments with a positive nature are rated as “bad comment.” In case they pull the article or the comments due to their uplifting nature, here is a sampling for you to enjoy:
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watch carefully. what you are all witnessing is the power of people at work, the power of true democracy. one must ask oneself a simple question do i simply haiyte the us because it’s fashionable, chic in a sense to be anti-status quo? do i simply haiyte the us because it simply makes me subconsciously feel better? certainly one cannot deny 70% of iraqi registered voters turned out. % turned out in the last iranian “elections”. one cannot deny the people as a whole are uniting to say something. and if one believes in morality, in self-determinism and government accountability for the people, one must certainly weigh these events with an open mind.
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twelve percent of eligible voters turned out in the last iranian “elections”. furthermore, even on this “news” “informal truce by iraqi resistance fighters who vowed to halt their attacks to avoid civilian casualties” i say what happened? did they just decide not to oppose the so called “occupation” on a very important day??
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thank you america and thank you george bush for bringing democracy to the me. may this now spread to other countries in the region.
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must be hard for you folks to witness what looks like a pretty important victory. no doubt the s who visit this will be spewing their share of venom.
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let us compare this election to the last election tyrant saddam held. it will take approximately two weeks for the ballots to be counted and the winners declared. under saddam, the newspapers already had their headlines printed before the polling places were closed. remember how saddam received over ninety nine percent of the ballots cast and all eligible citizens were required to vote or face jail, or worse. if saddam was so popular, why did they not write his name in on this ballot? and why has there not been a massive popular uprising against the liberating coalition forces. it is so funny to read the negative notes here when reality smashes the faces of doubt and doom.
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now that the sunnis in iraq have showed up in force to vote , lets see if they can form a coalition to counter balance the shia. once the government is formed , i hope that sunnis feel it was fair. if they can feel part of the new iraq then the insurgancy will be greatly reduced. this will lead to more recontruction and an actual improvement in ordinary iraqis lifes. then ofcourse an eventual withdraw of american and british forces.
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a surprisingly large turnout? surprising to whom? oh yeah. surprising to the hardliners who believe that democracy in the me is an american pipedream. does this solve all of the problems in iraq? certainly not. is this a swift kick in the you know what to the us bashers? you bet.
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people can’t deny that 70% of iraqis decided to cast their vote. you also can’t deny that the vote was being protected by iraqi military and secruity forces. if you don’t agree with the united states actions , you still have to be proud of the iraqi people and the strength they have shown. their is nothing wrong with the iraqi people voting not only for a new government but for a free democratic society. this is a great victory for freedom in iraq.
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did everyone notice that this place deleted the iraqi votes story of yesterday. the responses to that story were phenomenal and the losers rated all of our comments bad just as they are doing now. i guess they really cant handle the truth. the iraq s defied the terrorists and embraced democracy. ha, ha, ha, looks like the liberal democrats in usa, lost another election. lol, they cant win elections no matter how hard they try. democrats lost another election in iraq. iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election. every purple finger is a bullet in the chest of terrorism. since this is the holiday season, chrissytime, and i want to spread joy and good cheer. i want everybody to experience it and feel it. we are conservatives. we want everybody to be as happy as we are. we want everybody to be optimistic. i look at you insurgent supporters and i see nothing but misery, i see utter dejection, depression, i see serious problems for you. you have to cope with america’s success.
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wow, where is all the anti american crowd this morning? they must all be at friday prayers praying for the downfall of the iraqi government. i guess they don’t really have any other options other than to pray, because we all got a nice look at how effective their “resistance” was at stopping the iraqi people from taking part in the “illegal” elections. keep praying all you hayters. maybe one of these days someone will answer your hayet filled prayers, but i wouldnt hold your breth.
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to all of you terrorists supporters you are suffering from election stress trauma because bush was right. you all need genuine hel and i not a licensed professional therapist, but i can counsel in a caring and giving way, and i just see the terrorists raatbag supporters having so much trouble coping with america’s success. it really boils down to nothing more than that. and of courseas an adjunct to that, you terrorist supporters are having deep trouble coping with the success of the iraqi election.
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we iraqis are winning after our nightmare for the last forty years of brutality. iraq will be a beacon of democracy in our area. this is despite all the attack by ignorant like dr khan of holand or a large number of distorted minded individuals who have no understanding of decency or humanity from the s of their or adopted countries.
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history will judge what usa has done by sacrificing their own people that is the opportunity for the iraqi people to have freedom is a rare thing. most of europe and many in my own country are on the wrong side in this struggle for freedom for innocent people of iraq.

Hey guys, my name is Brad and I am a pretty nice guy. I am a Christian, a husband, an American, a conservative, an EMC employee, a NC State alumni, a Red Sox fan, a backpacker, a runner, a soccer player, a snowboarder, a surfer, a second baseman, a climber, a geocacher, a tight rope walker, and lots of other things too.

My purpose in keeping this blog is to keep a record of the things throughout the year which have excited me, impressed me, impacted me, disgusted me, inspired me, encouraged me, or had an effect on me in some way. Perhaps by keeping track of these things I will have a store to look back on when I am in need of excitements, impressions, impactions, disgustion, inspiration, encouragement, or effection. If you are not Brad then you are welcome to check out what I have here and my hope is that you too will be excited, impressed, impacted, disgusted, inspired, encouraged, or effected. I also love dialog and debate. Please feel free to comment on anything and everything and I look forward to lively discusion.

Why the bradlands? The Badlands is a beautiful place in South Dakota. For pictures you can click here.

Surgeon Generals Warning: I never learned how to spell!

I have always wanted a blog. I can’t say very much very well, but I still like to say so here goes.

For my first post I just want to say: LET FREEDOM RING!

The Iraqi elections went incredibly well. Better then could ever be imagined or hoped for. The fact that Sunni’s showed up to vote en mass is really exciting. I think it’s hilarious the way that they boycotted the first two and then realized to their chagrin that, surprise surprise, they had no representation in government. The fact that they realized their folly in time to help elect the first full term Iraqi parlament is so providential. They now have a chance to help re-write the constitution and govern over the next four years, and Iraq will truly be ruled by the people, and not by 2/3 of the people.

Also, shame on the the American people for not apreciating the democratic republic that we have here in the US. Most elections we are lucky if 50% of the elgible voters show up. In Iraq they reportedly had 70-80% of their voters show up, despite the threat to the voters of them being blown up by terrorists. We forget that the right to vote is something hundreds of thousands of Americans have died to provide for us. Millions of oppressed people around the world would give anything to have the privaledges that we have, and yet all too often we are too busy with our petty little lives.

As long as we are on the subject of shame: Shame on the Media. By 4 or 5 this evening the Iraqi Elections were off the front of google news. How could this be. Today’s elections are so monumental they are up there with Gorbachovs wall. Who in the world decided that the President had to sign a stupid anti torture bill today. How is that more important then the success of 160,000 men in Iraq. It is a disrespect to those who are fighting and dieing and it is a disrespect to those brave Iraqi people who risked their lives today to have a say in their future.

To all the democratic politicians out there who can do nothing but whine. My goodness you are a pitiful bunch. Ever since our President stood up two weeks ago and began fighting back, you guys have done nothing but trash yourselves and your integrity, and if it weren’t for the negative effect your words have on our troops and our fight in Iraq, I would be glad that your true colors are finally comming out and that the American people can finally see what a spineless bunch of flip flopping poll pleasers you are. I’m sorry but you have invested yourself and your future on the defeat of our troops in Iraq, and on days like today when America is voctorious, you are defeated.

Finally to my brother James: I love you man and can’t be more proud of what you are doing over there in Iraq. You are my hero and I wish I could be over there with you. You are fighting not only for the freedom of those people in Iraq but also for the freedom that our kids and grandkids will God willing continue to enjoy till they are old. May God keep you and bless you.

Raise your purple fingers and say God Bless America, Our President, Our Troops, 680 AM, James Hicks, and all those who stand for Freedom.